Whatever became of Mary from Magdala?

July 22:  Saint Mary Magdalen

Who was Mary from Magdala?

    She has been called the second-most important woman in the New Testament after Mary the mother of Jesus.  Mary Magdalene traveled with Jesus as one of his followers. She was present at Jesus' two most important moments: the crucifixion and the resurrection.  Within the four Gospels, the oldest historical record mentioning her name, she is named at least 12 times, more than most of the apostles. The Gospel references describe her as courageous, brave enough to stand by Jesus in his hours of suffering, death and beyond.

    In the New Testament, Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons",[Lk. 8:2] [Mk. 16:9] sometimes interpreted as referring to complex illnesses. Mary was most prominent during Jesus' last days. When Jesus was crucified by the Romans, Mary Magdalene was there supporting him in his final terrifying moments and mourning his death. She stayed with him at the cross after the male disciples (except John the Beloved) had fled. She was at his burial, and she is the only person to be listed in all four Gospels as first to realize that Jesus had risen and to testify to that central teaching of faith.  John 20 and Mark 16:9 specifically name her as the first person to see Jesus after his Resurrection.

Was she a prostitute?

    Mary Magdalene has been a victim of mistaken identity for almost 20 centuries.  It is almost universally agreed today that characterizations of her as a repentant prostitute are completely unfounded.  However, Mary Magdalene has long been confused with other women also named Mary.  This identification was made official by the Western (Catholic) church in a homily given by Pope Gregory I around the year 591. He is described as one of the most influential figures ever to serve as pope. In a famous series of sermons on Mary Magdalene, given in Rome, he identified Magdalene not only with the anonymous sinner in Luke's gospel, but also with Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. The seven devils removed from her by Jesus "morphed into the seven capital sins, and Mary Magdalene began to be condemned not only for lust but for pride and covetousness as well".   Pope Gregory's homily on Luke’s gospel made it an official interpretation of the church that Mary Magdalene was the woman of the “alabaster jar”—a prostitute

What became of Mary after the Resurrection?

    After her first report to the named apostles that Jesus was risen, Mary Magdalene disappears from the New Testament. She is not mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, and her fate remains undocumented.   Gregory of Tours, writing in Tours in the 6th century, supports the tradition that she retired to Ephesus (Turkey), with no mention of any connection to Gaul (France).